Nancy Today: Making lye from ashes (soap 191)

[DiaShanti]

I also like to use pots as they already have a hole in the bottom. I avoid plastic and use terra cotta. Thanks for sharing! What type of wood did you use? I've never had my lye sting and have to boil it down forever! I used palm wood, frawns. When I used the ficas wood it almost seemed to not work. Any thoughts on this, Nancy?

[NancyToday]

@DiaShanti You need hardwood ashes

[angelcarnivore]

@DiaShanti Think higher potassium content- banana peels will work better and are probably something you have in the home.

[DiaShanti]

@angelcarnivore Interesting...never realized a high potassium content would make a difference, but now it seems obvious with lye from wood ash being potassium hydroxide, I believe. Light bulb moment! Thanks!!!

[angelcarnivore]

@DiaShanti The best part is eating all the bananas to save up the banana peels. The worst part... burning the banana peels... but it makes a great lye. So do apple woods and kelp (probably for the high salt content)- but we all know bananas are dirt cheap most of the year and more likely available.

[DiaShanti]

@angelcarnivore Aren't you the little alchemist. Yes, seaweed! I must try that. I just did a video recently of me collecting seaweed off the coast of Florida just a couple of miles from my house! There is all the seaweed I could possible collect and then some! I had wondered if sea water would make good lye because of the saline, so it did not occur to me to harvest and use sea weed for lye ash! Bingo!!!

[TennesseeSurvivalist]

Ive gotten raw caustic on me, just wash it off, it's not like strong acid that will instantly eat through your skin, it's just a mild burn. Now if it were Sulfuric Adic, I'd say differently cause that stuff burns and disolves instantly on contact.

[NancyToday]

@TennesseeSurvivalist Yes, mine was very thin, never did float an egg!

[Ttalos]

@TennesseeSurvivalist As a professional chemist I just had to throw in my $0.02. Both acids and bases are dangerous depending on the concentration. Acid will not "instantly" dissolve your skin, it's not like in Aliens. Concentrated acids will leave a very nasty chemical burn if not washed off quickly, it triggers the pain receptors in your skin quickly and hurts like hell. Concentrated bases (NaOH or lye is a base) actually dissolve skin more readily, turning it to soap.

[hicksinger101]

I need to try my hand -er, gloved hand at this.

[hicksinger101]

@DudeWheresMyWhale. Did you know that lye made with wood ashes is actually potassium hydroxide? But it is still caustic.

[NancyToday]

@hicksinger101 And if you boil it down to powder, it's potash!

[5413252270]

"It has a little bit of sting to it... Cool!" Haha that was hilarious!

[naturecakes]

Please tell me you arent making lye with bare hands...

[NancyToday]

@naturecakes Okay, I'm not making lye with bare hands...

[koviack]

how can i concentrate this lye so as to dispose of corposes and such? or do I just need more of it?

[eltotoloco69]

and is the lye the water in the bottom of the bucket? or is it the powder you get after water strains through the ashes?

[eltotoloco69]

so do i need to use wood ashes? or can they be ashes from burning anything such as newspaper?

[NancyToday]

@eltotoloco69 They need to be hardwood ashes.

[eltotoloco69]

what would be the best way to store this? can i use a plastic bottle? is glass better?

[NancyToday]

@eltotoloco69 anything not aluminum or iron.

[halo5532]

sodium hydroxide...

[bluefire1981]

@halo5532

no. this is Potassium hydroxide (which is makes liquid soap)

[Urhoboman5]

Curious question. (sorry if it sounds silly) But when making lye you're never ever supposed to use a metal pot to make it, right? You're supposed to use any non metal container to create the lye for obvious reasons?

Possibly a violent dangerous reaction from the metal of a pot?

[NancyToday]

@Urhoboman5 You have to use stainless steel if you use metal.

[danthman114]

thats chemical burn that you're feeling...

[tonymengela]

as I learned from this old guy, his set up was and old 4 sided hopper that made a funnel at the very bottom on the inside he had a amount of dried straw, then he had small pieces of oak charcoal that he made, then filled the whole hopper up with ashes from oak and banana peals. the bottom hopper opening barely dripped, he said this is the key for strong lye. he had a barrel with a hose that filled the hopper and that was controlled as well. ashes from banana peals and pallet wood

[mplace6]

Have you had any more luck with homemade lye I haven't heard anymore about it and I am interested in trying this

[NancyToday]

@mplace6 Not yet, but I think I'll try boiling some down on the campfire, see what happens...if I can float an egg or not.

[NewEarthLabs]

@NancyToday If you don't have litmus paper, you can make your own pH meter from cabbage juice. Take some red cabbage and boil it in some water for a few minutes until you get a purple liquid. Pour the liquid out into a container that you can cap with a tight air seal. If you dump in vinegar, it should turn red, and if you dump in a base, like your lye water, it should turn blue. Don't let the neutral purple stuff sit out for too long though as carbon dioxide turns it red over time

[migdany]

Use a wodden barrell with a plugged hole by the base, put a thin layer of stones at the bottom of the barell, then your ashes and rain water and top it off with straw, when the ashes are well saturated remove and drain lye out to a container, test it by inserting a feather into the water, if the feather dissolves the lye is ready for soap making, if not, pour it back into the barrell a few days longer.

[bluejad69]

@migdany do you really need a wooden barrel? Nancy is using plastic and i have a giant plastic rainwater drum that i got from a farm.

[migdany]

@bluejad69 I guess it doesnt matter whether the barrel is wooden or plastic, it should all work the same.

[whiterabit998]

perhaps yoooou mean sodium hydroxide?

[Tabooga65]

I think you are supposed to use a layer of straw. I also think if you let the ashes soak longer, you would have better results.

[simpleman2423]

I REALLY want to see this from beginning to end. So did you make a bucket of ashes and water, and then use the water off that mixture to add to more ashes theoretically increasing the potency of the lye solution? Could cooking some of the water off the mixture also increase its strength?

[mregghole1]

another way to make it fast is by putting the ashes with salt and water and electrifying the solution out side with a plug or an extension chord. leave that for about an hour until it is thick.

But be careful..

[Boinkstyle]

@mregghole1

does that way really work ?

so basically, i take a plastic container (your everyday household type) put some firewood ashes in it, pour water, add salt, electrify with the plug. rest for an hour and i have sodium hydroxide ?

[successiveaspect]

yea don't burn yourself!

[turuanu]

Hi, I am trying to go for the sting in your fingers you mention, but I don't get that. I make my lye by boiling the ashes in 5 parts of water, and still it doesn't bother my hands or tongue. How could you, by just filtering it?

[NancyToday]

It is stronger as I don't use that much water.

[freakin1random]

@NancyToday Obviously the ashes has sodium in it for lye (NaOH) but why is it in there? do you know, cus im trying to find out. Obviously :D

[johnsze123]

@freakin1random err well im not very sure but i think it may be potassium oxide in ashes

[halcyon180]

I would be real careful as you dont know how potent that stuff could be, i wouldnt use my tongue to test this stuff. Your hand is much more immune to burns but this stuff can still burn a nice hole in your hand if strong enough. If you get a burn from it you could always use vinegar or lemons to stop it.

[halcyon180]

close to pure lye is a caustic base, lemons are almost pure citric acid, acid+base = no burns. Any way this is awesome to see how people made soap from nature. Hunt a deer or pig, get you some hardwood to cook it on. after you eat, cutup and smoke your meat, play some guitar over the fire, you can render the fat from the animal (amino acids) and let it solidify, drain water through the ashes of the fire, you have lye (base), mix and you have soap, gather flowers and add for fragrance.

[QueenLeilani]

what did you use the lye for?

[NancyToday]

I tried making soap with it, but the lye wasn't strong enough. Back to the drawing board

[fettuccinetube]

You have a bucket full of ashes. Then you show another bucket full of ashes and lye. You get a container and dip some out and pour it into the bucket of ashes. You stung your fingers a little bit.

[NancyToday]

Thanks for all the help you give!

[Sharazapam]

Sodium Hydroxide! :-D

[NancyToday]

but if I succeed making it from ashes, it'll be potassium hydroxide!

[sleestack808]

are you making soap?

[NancyToday]

trying an experiment with making soap

[sleestack808]

you are the most prolific youtuber I have ever seen. Amazing amounts of videos. Thank you!

[NancyToday]

LOL!  I hope it's okay to make so many videos! I just talk to the camera like I would to a friend, or teaching my kids!